Re: "well-tempered"?

[Joshua Huppert <jbhuppert...>]

This is some pretty high-level stuff you fret-boys get into .
As a lowly fiddle player, I don't worry about just intonation. I would be
happy to be just in tune.

Josh Huppert
Violin
Chicago Klezmer Ensemble
----- Original Message -----
From: "Seth Austen" <klezmusic (at) earthlink(dot)net>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 10:28 AM
Subject: Re: "well-tempered"?


> on 3/21/02 8:43 PM, BarMusProd (at) aol(dot)com at BarMusProd (at) 
> aol(dot)com wrote:
>
> > But fixed fretted instruments like the banjo, unless the frets are not
placed
> > properly, should be in equal temperament (in fact the presence of
fretted
> > instruments--although in the early days of lutes and viols, etc., the
frets
> > were adjustable--was one of the early impetuses for the acceptance of
equal
> > temperament. These fretted instruments could play in more keys and sound
more
> > or less in tune in all of them, unlike the harpsichord or organ, which
was
> > still tuned (in the earlier times) in an attempt to stay closer to just
> > intonation, using "mean-tone temperaments" or a number of others as you
> > mentioned. I don't understand why a modern fixed-fretted instrument like
> > banjo or guitar should sound better or worse in one key or another,
unless
>
> Although the guitar, banjo and mandolin are fretted in equal temperament,
> many players of these instruments, including myself, and probably Pete,
from
> what I gathered he said, tweak the tuning a bit to sound a little closer
to
> just, or at least further from equal.
>
> An example of this is that in open G banjo tuning, all the strings are
tuned
> to a G chord, gDGBd. The guitar in standard tuning, EADGBE shares the same
> tuning on its DGB strings, many players tune their banjos and guitars to
> sound good in G. In doing this, fretted string players will tend to tune
the
> B string flat, bringing it closer to its just interval. However, if one
> tunes the B flat enough (14 cents) to be just, when we fret at the third
> fret of the string, the fifth of the chord, D, is noticibly flat. As you
add
> in other chords, such as E, then the B string is a fifth of the chord and
a
> little more tweaking is needed to reach a compromise that the individual
> player can live with.
>
> I am unable to use an electronic tuner to tune my fretted stringed
> instruments. They sound horribly out of tune to my ears if I do. I tweak
the
> tuning for each key I'm playing in, and also use many open tunings without
> thirds.
>
> Here's an interesting concept for people to consider in the possible use
of
> just intonation in klezmer. Example, in D freygish, with D as the 1/1
tonic.
> Eb, a 16/15 interval, is 11+ cents sharp to an equal tempered minor
second.
> F#, the 5/4 interval from D, is 14+ cents flat to an equal tempered major
> third. Thus the interval between the minor second and major third is
> approximately 275 cents instead of the 300 cents of that equal tempered
> interval. And what a difference that 25 cents makes.
>
> Just my 2 cents on the subject (pun most definitely intended, 2 cents
being
> the difference between the equal tempered and just fifth).
>
> Seth
>
> --
> Seth Austen
>
> http://www.sethausten.com
> emails: seth (at) sethausten(dot)com
> klezmusic (at) earthlink(dot)net
>
>
>

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+